Chronicles of Muscular Christianity: What Justice Looks Like
Informal thoughts on Judges 3 - 5/2/23
Judges 1:1-2:5
What Justice Looks Like
1 After the death of Joshua - So this is the story of the people who had no leader - now Joshua is the Hebrew name for Jesus - so the template for us to use in looking at the book of Judges is that it describes the life of God’s people after they have lost contact with their head - so it pictures what happens in an individual when he loses intimacy with Jesus, his head, what happens to a family who does not maintain contact with God through the Word and through prayer, and it pictures what happens to a city, to a state, to a nation that fails to acknowledge Christ as its head and stops cultivating faith in him, who no longer have leaders who seek Christ for wisdom and power - and as you might suspect, it’s not a pretty picture
Now the people still had access to the ministry of the high priest, and remember the high priest had possession of the Urim and Thummim - two stones he carried in a pocket on his breast piece - so the high priest could ask God a question, and then reach into his breast pocket for one of these two stones, and whichever one he pulled out gave him his answer -
If he pulled out the black stone, then God’s answer was no, if he pulled out the white stone, then God’s answer was yes - so when it says the people of Israel inquired of the Lord it means the high priest inquired for them -
The first question they asked had to do with the fact that they were now in enemy-occupied territory - so they wanted to know which tribe should lead them in battle against the Canaanites, to begin the process of claiming and taking possession of the land God had given to them - so the High Priest asked this question of God, and then reached into his breast pocket for an answer - for instance, he would ask God, Lord, “Is Reuben to lead us out into battle?” - then he reached into the pouch and drew out a black stone, which God was saying, No, Reuben is not my choice to lead you out? So finally they get around to asking him about Judah, and the High Priest drew the white stone out of his breast pocket indicating he wanted Judah to take the lead in the conquest of the land -
the people of Israel inquired of the Lord, “Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?” 2 The Lord said, “Judah shall go up; behold, I have given the land into his hand.”
3 And Judah said to Simeon his brother, “Come up with me into the territory allotted to me, that we may fight against the Canaanites. And I likewise will go with you into the territory allotted to you.”
So they had access to the mind of God whenever they needed it - so why didn’t they have more success in taking the land - the answer is that it is one thing to know the mind and will of God - and it is another to do the will of God - and we will see that’s where they - and we after them - often fell short - they knew what they were supposed to do, they just didn’t do it -
That’s our biggest problem in life, isn’t it? We know what the right thing to do is, because we know what the word of God teaches, but we just don’t do it - and sometimes a besetting sin will take hold of us and it may take us years to break loose of the hold that sin has on us -
The first king they encountered in battle with the king of the city of Bezek - and they were successful:
6 Adoni-bezek fled, but they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and his big toes. So why did they do this? Because this was what Adoni-Bezek had done to 70 kings he had defeated in battle: 7 And Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and their big toes cut off used to pick up scraps under my table. As I have done, so God has repaid me.”
Now this is justice, a brutal and exquisite form of justice to be sure - they did to Adoni-Bezek exactly what he had done to others - that’s justice - which is why we as parents say to a disobedient child, “How would you like it if someone did that to you?” And of course, this form of justice would completely cripple a warrior for battle - he would not be able to grip a sword or a club or a battle-ax, or even hold the reins of a horse to ride it into battle -
One of my mentors was talking with an orthopedist one day, and the orthopod asked him if he knew what the most important part of his body was when he stood up to preach - Ray didn’t know, so the orthopod said, it’s your big toes. Your big toes make it possible for you to stand upright. Without your big toes, you’d fall over on your nose - with no big toes to provide balance, you would not even be able to stand up to preach - so these soldiers were reduced to picking up scraps of food with their index finger and middle finger - so justice was done, Adoni-Bezek was done, and his days as a warrior were over -
But Judah was not done:
Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it. So Judah got off to a great start, but as we read on in Judges, we find out it wasn’t long before they stumbled -
Amen.